A Short History of Nutritional Science: Part 3 (1912-1944)

Time
Notable People Events leading to the discovery Discovery
Year Events
1912 Vitamin Era Casimir Funk - Anti-beriberi factor must be “Vital Amines” = Vitamines
an organic base and
therefore contain amine
group.
1804 Thomas Christie - Beriberi strive with - Difference of scurvy and
stimulating & nourishing beriberi is on chemical
diet combinations
1830 John Elliotson - Scurvy is a chemical disease - Remedy for scurvy is fresh
food
1842 George Budd Diseases caused by dietary
deficiencies
1. Scurby
2. Rickets
3. Ulceration of the cornea
1885- Gerrit Grijins “A Short History of Nutritional - Organic nutrients are
1912 Science:Part 2” required in small amounts
only.

Rats and Mice fed Purified diets – mixtures prepared - Find what combination of
purified diets from major nutrients supplements would restore
(protein,carbo & fat) purified diets to promoting
good performance
Various Literatures Von Bunge - The maintenance of small - Iron and Phosphorus should
cited by E.V. McCollum animals on purified diets be part of organic
had all failed. complexes in diet.
- The failure of purified diets
is on complexes being
decomposed in the
purification method
 Cornelis Pekelharing - Mice would not thrive on a - Mice were deficient in
simplified diet of casein, nutrient that would supply
albumin, egg, rice flour and them with whey
minerals.
Gowland Hopkins - No animal can live upon the - Real error in diet is still
mixture of pure protein, fat obscure/ unclear.
and carbohydrate. - He associates the
deficiencies of purified diet
with human disease
conditions.
Eijkman and Grijns - Feeding chicken with white - Chicken dies because of the
rice deficiency in water-soluble
organic compound
1909 Swiss opthalmologist - Appearance of eye lesions - The presence of
in rats fed in a purified diet xerophthalmia &
keratomalacia that are
responsive to cod liver oil.

McCollum’s First Trial McCollum - Animals needed to be

supplied with phosphorus
in the form of nucleic acids
- The lack of palatability was
the limiting factor of
purified diets
- Rats could manufacture
their own nucleic acid w/o
the need for phosphorus
and purines.
1911 Osborne and Mendel - The desire to compare the - It leads to the study of
nutritional values of vitamins.
isolated proteins in diet
with no other protein
source present.
1913 Factors “A” and “B” McCollum - The use of phosphoprotein - Rats fed in a same amount
casein as purified protein of organic contents will
source grow well in 8-14 weeks
and then lose weight after
some time.
- Growth of the rats will
restart after having 1 g of
ether extract of egg.
1914 - Butterfat can stimulate the
growth of the rat.
- Growth factor should be
non-saponifiable and fat
soluble.
- Hopkins argued that the - McCollum and colleagues
growth of the rats from agreed that rats need a fat-
their diet was because soluble Factor A and water-
casein and lactose were not soluble Factor B.
purified from a water- - The beginning of the
soluble growth factor. scheme for identifying
vitamins by letters.

1917 Rickets and vitamin D McCollum - Puppies fed with bread or - The discovery of another
oatmeal with whole milk human disease, rickets.
would develop rickets. - The potent factors in
developing rickets are
inadequate fresh air and
exercise.
Edward Mellanby - Produced rickets in puppies - He could prevent the
by limiting their milk intake occurrence of rickets with
and keeping them indoor butter and cod liver oil and
exercise.
- Oatmeal has a rachitic effect
on puppies.
1919 - The highlanders got - The discovery of using
offended by the remarks of ultraviolet light to cure
Mellanby that oatmeal, as rickets.
their traditional cereal food,
had a bad effects on dogs.
McCollum and colleagues - They use the rats as a model - Aerated cod liver oil with
having a diet which is destroyed factor A value can
severely imbalance in the still prevent ricket disease.
ratio of Calcium to
Phosphorus.
1931 - Coining the term “Vitamin
D” as the activated material
in the diet which cured
ricket disease.

Experimental scurvy McCollum - The rat models that he used - They concluded that each
no longer needed species has different
antiscorbutics (Vitamin C) requirements in order to
to survive. survive therefore their
results in their rat
experiment will not be
significant to other species.
1917 - They fed guinea pigs with - They debunk the findings
oats and milk resulting for that scurvy is due to dietary
some of them to survive and deficiency.
some to die in
autointoxication.
Harriette Chick and E.M. - They interpreted that cow’s - Scurvy appeared in
Hume milk wad only a low autoclaved milk that had
antiscorbutic acid, therefor lost most of its vitamin C
guinea pigs needed at least activity.
50 ml intake per day.
- Commercial lime juice was - They conducted the first
not an effective bioassay for vitamin
antiscorbutic with less than activity.
 1/10th of the activity of
fresh lemon.
1928 Albert Szent-Gyorgi - He used adrenal cortex - He unknowingly extracted
tissues from slaughter and isolate Vitamin C
houses and rapid in vitro despite its instability.
assays.
1939 Surgeon at Harvard Medical - He tried to have a diet - The dosing of ascorbic acid
School without Vitamin C but quickly cured the problems.
supplement his body with
other vitamins and discover
after 26 weeks the
development of
hemorrhages on legs and
unhealed wound on the
back.

Beriberi and Vitamin B McCollum - It was discovered that - The discovery of the second
autoclaved yeast although factors in the “antiberiberi
lost its anti-neuritis activity factor”, Vitamin B as
still promoted the growth of Vitamin B1 and B2
beriberi in rats.
1926 Dutch Scientists in Java - They used 10mg of crystals - They discovered the
from rice polishing to cure biologically active
deficient pigeons and they compound as Thiamin(e) as
got a problem in the “vitamin containing
determining the structure sulfur”.
of the crystals of the
chloride salt.
Rudolph Peters - He discovered that deficient - They discovered that
subjects maintained thiamin pyrophosphate
unusually high levels of served as a cofactor for the
pyruvic or lactic acid in the enzyme pyruvate
blood after exercise. decarboxylase.
-
1914 Pellagra in the United Joseph Goldberger - He concluded that pellagra - He concluded that pellagra
States was not infectious. is caused by unbalanced
- He received subcutaneous diet of having abundant
injections of blood from corn and cereals but
patients then had skin without meat and dairy
eruptions rubbed into his products.
nasal mucosa and then ate - Having failed to observe the
some of their excreta. same symptoms of pellagra
in rats exposed with the
same diet, he concluded that
pellagra is caused by an
infectious agent.
1937 - Dogs were given mixtures - Nicotinic acid was found to
with mostly cornmeal and be extremely potent in
no meat or milk powder curing black tongue thus it
developed a condition was given with a name of
called “black tongue” which “niacin”.
is quite similar to pellagra.

1935 Riboflavin - It was discovered that some - It was realized that B2 in

dogs with black tongue diet autoclaved yeasts has a
had a prior condition of complex factors and the first
yellow liver that could be one to be investigated was
cured through riboflavin. known to be riboflavin.
- It was also found out that
pellagrins who have
cheilosis (lesions on the
mouth) responds quickly to
riboflavin.

1928 Folic Acid Lucy Wills - She went to investigate - She found out that yeast and
more macrocytic anemia of “Marmite” were highly
pregnant woman after effective in curing
failing to associate them to macrocytic anemia of
deficiency of Vitamin A & C. pregnant women.
1937 - They tried to feed rhesus - The rhesus monkeys
monkey with Bombay diet responded to Marmite and
and found out that it crude liver extracts but in
induced macrocytic anemia had no effect to patients
and leucopenia. with pernicious anemia.
- They called the deficient
factor as Vitamin M.
1944 - Chicks fed with purified diet - They discovered that it
with then known vitamins could be prevented by
still grew slowly and giving them crystalline
developed macrocytic Vitamin BC.
anemia. - The same compound has
been extracted from spinach
and named as “folic acid”.

1937 Other B vitamins - Pantothenic acid, B6 and

biotin as water-soluble
vitamins.
- Choline was recognized to
be essential for poultry.
Fat Soluble Vitamins
Vitamin A and - The problem was to identify - Crystals of b-carotene were
Carotene the Vitamin A which obtained from carrots and
appeared to exist in: found to be active.
a. Highly colored form in - Carotene appeared to be a
leaves and carrots precursor of the final
b. Colorless form in animal vitamin.
fat - The vitamin is now named
- It was found out that giving as “retinol”
carotenes to rats depleted
of Vitamin A resulted from
the reappearance of color
reaction of the animal factor
in extracts from their livers.
1922 Vitamins E and K H.M. Evans and Katharine  They found out that purified - Lettuce was the first food to
Bishop diet with vitamin prevent this problem.
supplements that supported - Cod liver oil unexpectedly
good growth in female rats increase the problem.
nevertheless failed to The active factor was named as
support normal Vitamin E and named as
reproduction. “tocopherol”.
1938 Paul Karrer  Vitamin E became a popular - He synthesized Vitamin E by
treatment including condensing phytyl bromide
abortions, impotence and with trimethyl hyroquinone.
muscular dystrophy.
1935 Henrik Dam - The deficiency in Vitamin K - The vitamin cured
resulted in the hemorrhage hemorrhaging of patients
in chickens. with jaundice who lacked
- It occurs naturally in bile to aid the absorption of
modified forms in plants the vitamin and to the cattle
and produced bacterial that eats sweet clover hay
growth in stored animal that contained anti-vitamin.
products.
1929 Essential Fatty Acids George and Mildred Burr - They prepare diets that - They discovered that
were free from fat using polyunsaturated acids are
sucrose instead of very essential in the diet.
cornstarch and supplying
Vitamin A&D by saponifying
cod liver oil.
- As a result, rats fed with
such diet lose weight and
lost fur with inflamed tails.
Proteins and Amino Osborne and Mendel - Gliadin isolated from wheat
Acid supported slower growth
than what was obtainable
from casein.
1930 William Rose & Madelyn - They set out to develop - It was discovered that one
Womack amino acid mixtures that of the active components of
hydrolysate was isoleucine
 would support growth in and the second factor was
rats. amino acid known as
threonine.
- When it was included in the
amino acid mix the rats
grew well and rapidly.
1937 Mineral Elements Robert McCance and Elsie - Humans had no ability to - It was said to be solved by
Widdowson excrete iron therefor there work with dogs using
must be a mechanism that radioactive iron that cast
regulated its absorption their effect after 7 days
according to their needs. when the body iron stores
had been exhausted as a
consequence of increased
synthesis of red cell.
1928 Iodine Workers at John Hopkins - The discreditation on the - He shows that rabbits fed
old idea that goiter was mainly with cabbage had
caused by deficiency of developed goiters.
iodine. - His studies on rats showed
that Brassica plants and
unprocessed soybeans have
goitrogenic activity that
responded to higher intakes
of iodide.
1930 Fluorine - Fluoride ions was toxic for
livestock where fluoride-ash
was scattered.
- The mottling of the enamel
of human teeth was
associated to high fluorine
content of local water
supply.
Overall goal of this period: Discovering what was needed to obtain maximum growth rates in young animals with underlying presumption
that this was the good thing.
1917 Diet Restriction and - The restriction in the food
Life span supply of female rats led to
their living and remaining
 fertile, with vigorous young
to a greater age.
Clive McCay and Lafayette - The life of rats particularly
Mendel males could be greatly
extended by restricting
their diet for an initial year
or two.